It's easy to believe Cutler can come through against Packers to win NFC North title for Bears as well as respect for himself

'Tis the season to believe. What better way to drive home that point than a Bears victory Sunday against the Packers at Soldier Field in a winner-take-all showdown for the seemingly unwanted NFC North title?

Mad as the idea seems, the Bears have one last chance to make all their dreams come true. They can win the division and secure a home playoff game if they beat their bitterest rival. All while burying the ghosts of horrors past and, perhaps of most importance, proving to their team matriarch, that, yes, Virginia (McCaskey), there is a franchise quarterback from Santa Claus, (Ind.).

Jay Cutler is the Bears' central figure in this game. It's up to him to win it or lose it. He needs to prove he's the franchise quarterback general manager Phil Emery has been saying he is since last year. The divisive figure needs to became a unifying one. Cutler must take advantage of this opportunity to justify the trade the Bears made for him in 2009, the decision to fire most of the people who have worked with him over those years and the future payday he seems certain to collect with the Bears.

Cutler still can enjoy an Eli Manning-style transfiguration this year and become an emblem of self-congratulation for a franchise eager to slap itself on the back. Maybe one game can't justify everything that has come before it, but the Bears certainly can lay claim to such justification if they just can beat the Packers.

If that doesn't pile enough importance on it, how about Cutler's chance to exorcise personal demons? It's a revenge game for the 2010 NFC championship that seemed unfairly to ruin his reputation with accusations from fellow NFL players that he quit on the team. It's also a chance to stand up to Dom Capers, the embattled Packers defensive coordinator who serves as a personal bogeyman to Cutler.

The Bears quarterback has been awful against the Packers, managing a 1-7 record with nine touchdowns and 16 interceptions while compiling a 61.5 passer rating. The Bears have averaged 27.8 points per game this year and need 40 in the season finale — two extra touchdowns — to exceed the club-best 456 points scored in the glorious 1985 season. That might be a Herculean task considering the Bears have managed 10, 13, 17, 20, 3, 14, 15 and 14 points in Cutler's career against the Capers-led Packers defense. The 20 points came in his lone victory in 2010 at Soldier Field.

The Bears had a chance to eliminate the Packers in the season finale that year and played their starters in an effort to do so. But they fell 10-3 and subsequently lost NFC championship game 21-14 after Cutler left with an MCL strain. The Packers proceeded to win the Super Bowl.

What's different this time around? Pretty much everything, including eight starters around Cutler, four on the offensive line and the catch-radius-receivers Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery and tight end Martellus Bennett.

Why has Cutler struggled so much against the Packers? For much the same reason he has thrown a pick six in each of his last two games. Cutler always has been more of a thrower than a passer. He tends to throw late — hold the ball and make late reads and see the ball into his receivers instead of leading them. He also is coming off a set of injuries — the groin strain followed by a high ankle sprain. Guys going through rehab don't get a lot of time to work on mechanics and Cutler, much like the Redskins' Robert Griffin III, has developed some bad habits as a result. He's throwing off his back foot, sailing the ball or simply losing accuracy.

Cutler dismissed the idea that he might have learned something from watching Josh McCown play in his stead, but it's not an absurd idea. McCown, like the Eagles' Nick Foles, has done a great job of avoiding turnovers. Foles had thrown just four incompletions late into the third quarter of the Eagles destruction of the Bears Sunday night and two were balls he floated out of the end zone to live for another play. Another time he pulled the ball down rather than make a risky throw. Cutler rarely does that, instead believing his arm strength allows him to make plays.

Regardless, the offense hasn't been the problem this season, even in the calamitous loss in Philadelphia. The simple fact is that the Bears' worst losses — to the division bottom-feeding Redskins, Rams and Vikings — all have come on the road. The old adage in the NFL is that defense travels. Sadly, that includes great defenses and awful ones. The Bears have been bad all year on defense and special teams and that has been magnified on the road. Those units will play better Sunday at Soldier Field.

Cutler is the most talented quarterback in Bears history and perhaps the most vilified, but it's difficult to imagine he doesn't have a future with the team regardless of Sunday's outcome. He seemed to answer that question when he returned for the Browns game.

"I think Phil has a plan," Cutler said of Emery. "Actually, I know Phil has a plan. You guys might not know Phil's plan. But he has a plan.''

Spoken like a man who believes he's a part of that plan. In the bottom-line menace of professional football, Sunday's game should decide Cutler's future.